O Taste and See

The world is
not with us enough.
O taste and see

the subway Bible poster said,
meaning The Lord, meaning
if anything all that lives
to the imagination's tongue,

grief, mercy, language,
tangerine, weather, to
breathe them, bite,
savor, chew, swallow, transform

into our flesh our
deaths, crossing the street, plum, quince,
living in the orchard and being

hungry, and plucking
the fruit.

Denise Levertov 1971

Steve asked me whether i would perfer heaven or a loaf of bread in the context of a larger discussion of the social gospel.
all i thot about was this poem, finally becoming clear.

i know that a quince is good, i have made jam from them
i know that a plum is good, i have written poems about them and admired there dusky glean
i know that crossing the st. to see a friend, to get to my location, to not die from traffic is a daily miracle.
i savor these, chew them and perhaps they have transformed me.

i know that tangerines are good, the blog you are reading is named for them
i know that weather, all weather and its patterns on me, and on the world and the changes they have made are not bad
and i know that grief and sorrow will have comfort, and that langauge sustains me.

i can taste all of this, the sour apple bite of quince, the succulence of plums, my boots on ashphalt, the bitter spike of citrus, the feeling of wind or rain or snow or cold or sun, the coppery stomach ache of grief, all are tangible.

what isnt tangible to me, and perhaps levertov is god
levertov the daughter of an hasid who converted to Anglicanism was caught b/w god and the world,
and so the fevour that creates a will to not only change but encourage others to change thru mass media and propghanda may be confusing.

she could taste and see that all sorts of blessings were good, but the lord was the last great intaglible.
for me too.